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Investigators trying to identify the woman whose body was found in a suitcase near Saltair released a detailed description of her body.
On Friday afternoon, Unified Police announced that the body was that of a middle-age woman of unknown ethnicity who had been shot to death. She had long dark hair and a tattoo on her left wrist of a pink breast cancer ribbon. The woman was missing her right breast due to a mastectomy, police added.
She was wearing a red and white tank top, with a red button-up shirt and jeans. All of her clothing was size 8.
Unified Police officers are talking to Las Vegas police about whether the body is that of Susan Villalvazo, a missing Nevada woman. Villalvazo went missing Nov. 5, and was also missing a breast and had a pink ribbon tattoo on her left wrist, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
"We're still in the discussion phase to see if it is her," Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal said.
On Nov. 7, North Las Vegas police stopped Villalvazo's 75-year-old stepfather, Samuel Teran, who went missing the same day, the Review-Journal reported. But "Teran pulled out a gun and shot himself once in the head … and died at University Medical Center without telling anyone about Villalvazo's whereabouts," the newspaper added.
A Utah Department of Transportation worker found the suitcase Thursday in a ravine off Interstate 80, near mile marker 102. Police believe the body had been there for "several weeks to several months," Unified Police stated in a news release.
Anyone with information is asked to call Unified Police at 385-468-9817. Investigators have no information about a suspect.
Missing Provo woman Elizabeth Elena Laguna-Salgado was ruled out as the victim earlier Friday.
Sylvia Haro — who has been helping to coordinate search efforts and publicity for the missing 26-year-old returned Mormon missionary from Mexico since she disappeared two weeks ago — said Provo Police Chief John King had confirmed in a text to her late Friday morning that the remains were not those of Laguna-Salgado.
"It's not Elizabeth, so we are all very much relieved," Haro said. "We will continue to search for her, hoping to find her alive."
King did not immediately return requests for comment Friday afternoon, but the Provo Police Department did Tweet this confirmation:
"The Provo Police Department has received numerous media calls regarding the Utah Highway Patrol investigation near Saltair. The information we have received indicates that the UHP investigation is in no way related to the disappearance of Elizabeth Elena Laguna Salgado."
The woman's parents and other relatives have arrived from Mexico to join volunteers continuing to look for any sign of Laguna-Salgado, last seen leaving to walk home from the Nomen Global Language School in Provo.
Haro said that in addition to ongoing door-to-door canvassing of residences and businesses in the area, a second search effort is being arranged that will include use of aerial drones. The remote-controlled drones will be able to gain broader views of rugged terrain, Haro said.
Laguna-Salgado's parents held a press conference Thursday to plead for help.
Laguna-Salgado moved to Utah a few weeks ago to study English. She left the language school, at 384 W. Center St., for her apartment April 16. But she never made it home, then failed to show up at class or her job as a waitress, according to police, who said she did not own a car.
While there is nothing to indicate foul play, investigators are concerned because Laguna-Salgado was typically in touch with her family every day, police said last week. Since she disappeared, there has been no activity on her cellphone or her credit cards, he added.
Salgado had said that his niece went on her church mission in her native Mexico after getting a degree in industrial engineering. She was in Provo for only a month before disappearing, he said, and had not yet learned the language.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family, with a goal of raising $20,000.
Twitter: @remims